2009 Bulletin Inserts
Building Walls
to Tear Walls Down
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When an interfaith group from Indianapolis went
to Amman, Jordan, to
build a house, the members carried with them a hope to create more interest
in Habitat for Humanity International throughout the Middle East, a desire to
broaden their interfaith dialogue, and some prayer shawls made by church women
in Indianapolis.
Members of the interfaith community in Indianapolis had learned
a few years earlier that coming together to build a house with a neighbor can
be a wonderful way to find common bonds and celebrate differences at the same
time. These Jewish, Christian, and Muslim people of faith who had originally
met together for dialogue decided to build a Habitat house in Indianapolis. Calling
themselves the House of Abraham, named for the ancestor shared by the three religions,
they built their first house in 2006, a second house in 2007, then a third in
2008. They also developed the Abraham Trialogue series, public discussions offering
an opportunity for people to learn about the three faiths and what they share,
including in 2008 a series about caring for God’s creation.
House of Abraham had a bigger dream: to build a house in the
Middle East. So in the summer of 2008, a group of seventeen Jews, Muslims, and
Christians—including
four people from Second Presbyterian Church — an imam,
a rabbi, a high school student, three college students, and other adults, traveled
from Indianapolis to Amman. There they helped build the first interfaith Habitat
house in the Middle East. They gave the prayer shawls to the mother and daughter
whose house they helped build in a blessing ceremony of the house.
“We didn’t complete the house,” said Stacy Smith from Second
Presbyterian. “We were there to build the walls and start on the roof.
Another group came after us to finish the house. We were there building walls
to tear walls down.”
Peacemaking Offering funds from Second Presbyterian Church in
Indianapolis and Whitewater Valley Presbytery helped support the House
of Abraham homes in Indianapolis
and in Jordan. When you give to the Peacemaking Offering, your funds go
to support work that breaks down walls dividing people. Give generously to the
Offering as one of the ways you live out God’s desire for peace.
Making a Bridge for Veterans
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John,
a veteran of the Iraq war, suffers from posttraumatic stress disorder and serious
physical injuries. He works at a minimum wage job,
but when he was waiting to receive disability payments from the military, he
didn’t have enough money to pay for his living expenses.
At one point he was three months behind on his mortgage, in danger of
losing his house, and
his electricity had been turned off.
Like John, many veterans returning from service in Iraq and Afghanistan face
tremendous problems re-entering American society. Thirty-five percent of veterans
returning from
Iraq and Afghanistan struggle with posttraumatic stress, mental health issues,
or traumatic brain injury. Hundreds are already homeless, and many more could
easily become homeless.
For a second year, Sunnyvale Presbyterian Church in Sunnyvale, California,
gave part of its Peacemaking Offering portion to Swords to Plowshares, an organization
in San Francisco that works with veterans. Sunnyvale also gave to the Fisher
House, a residence for families of troops being treated at the Veterans Administration
hospital in Palo Alto.
Westminster Presbyterian Church in Portland, Oregon, decided to reach out
to veterans in its community by using its portion of the 2008 Peacemaking
Offering to give to the Veterans’ Bridge Fund, a project of a sister church,
St. Luke Lutheran. This project provides small grants to Iraq and Afghanistan
war veterans who need help while they are making the transition back to civilian
life. The project can get funds quickly to the vets, a real help to those, like
John, who are awaiting disability awards and other services. The Bridge Fund
paid
to get his heat turned back on, and other funds helped with his mortgage.
The Bridge Fund does not require vets to pay back the grants, but many do.
The Presbytery of Milwaukee used Peacemaking Offering funds to host
a workshop at Crossroads Presbyterian Church called “Homefront Ministry,” which
focused on how congregations can respond to the needs of veterans
and their families.
How can you and your congregation reach out to the veterans in your community
and in the nation who are suffering because of their experiences in service?
Consider using the congregation’s share of the Peacemaking Offering for
that very purpose. Please give generously.
In Our Own
Backyard
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In
December 2008, two men were convicted under U.S. federal law of enslaving farmworkers
in Immokalee, Florida. Workers were locked inside a cargo box truck each night,
beaten, chained, and forced by violence to harvest tomatoes for two prominent
Florida growers. This is the seventh case of modern-day slavery to be successfully
investigated and prosecuted in Florida in recent years. A few years ago, the
first case caused members of Peace River Presbytery to ask if what they were
doing in their work with farmworkers was enough.
For decades individual churches of Peace River Presbytery had been working
to address the survival and spiritual needs of farmworkers in Immokalee, which
is located within the bounds of the presbytery. Graham Hart, executive presbyter,
explains, “We always had a heart for migrants. The slavery case opened
our eyes to what was happening in our own backyard. We realized
that we needed to become a partner with farmworkers: through advocacy, by standing
together with them.”
So Peace River began to work directly with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers
(CIW),
a community-based farmworker organization whose members are largely Latino, Haitian,
and Mayan Indian immigrants. The CIW has been on the forefront of investigating
and assisting the U.S. Department of Justice in successfully prosecuting cases
of slavery and, with the help of the PC(USA), has achieved agreements with Yum!
Brands (Taco Bell, KFC, and others), McDonald’s, Burger King, Subway, and
Whole Foods Market to advance human rights for farmworkers.
In 2008 Peace River Presbytery decided to give its portion of the Peacemaking
Offering to help with the CIW’s new community center in Immokalee. The
center houses CIW’s offices, including a private office for meeting with
victims of slavery, a food co-op, its low-powered FM radio station, and Internet
and computer access for farmworkers. It also serves as a cultural center for
the community.
Ministering to spiritual and physical needs and advocating for the rights
of those with few rights are concrete ways to work for peace. Giving to the Peacemaking
Offering is another way to join with others to work for peace
and justice in our backyards. When you give to the Peacemaking Offering,
25 percent goes to your presbytery or synod for peacemaking work, 25 percent
stays with your congregation for peacemaking engagement within your community,
and 50 percent goes to the PC(USA)’s Peacemaking Program
for its work across the denomination. Please give generously.
Noelle Damico
Associate, Fair Food Concerns
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) |
